February 27, 2017
Set in prewar Germany in 1937–1938, Grant’s intricate spy novel focuses on a young German army lieutenant sent to America on a dangerous and doomed intelligence mission. Grant (Another Green World) tells a clever story of suspense and treachery as growing resistance to Hitler and the Nazis force desperate opponents to act. Lt. Oskar Langweil is recruited into the Abwehr, military intelligence, by a rumpled naval officer named Jaap. His first overseas mission is to contact Tobias Lugan, a fixer for a sympathetic and powerful U.S. Senator, but Oskar is betrayed and barely escapes. Desperate to return to Germany, Oskar and a socialist named Lena travel as husband and wife on a German ocean liner. On the voyage they meet the senator’s son and the son’s SS bodyguard; however, no one is who they seem, and the Gestapo is very interested. All four run for their lives from a brutal SS colonel who wants them dead. Jaap and a motley collection of eccentrics are the only ones who can save them and, they hope, thwart Hitler’s plan to invade Czechoslovakia. Pursuits, shoot-outs, surprising plot twists, and an exciting showdown at an alpine mountain lodge complete this remarkably tense and well-crafted thriller.
Starred review from February 1, 2017
Awkward spies, a helpful bad guy, and a love of the German countryside mark this exceptional period thriller focused on homegrown opposition to Hitler.German officers mulling a "nascent Resistance" to Hitler's prewar moves dispatch a fledgling spy named Oskar to seek support in the U.S. When that fails, Oskar goes into hiding until a stateside group of expatriates opposed to Hitler books him passage to Germany, where he hopes to slip in without being noticed, with a group member posing as his wife. The ship happens to carry the same U.S. senator Oskar sought out in Washington, now on a fact-finding junket that becomes an impromptu spying mission. Also aboard is the senator's teenage son, on his way to a German summer camp under the protection of an unusually accommodating SS officer. Soon after the ship docks in Bremerhaven, the trouble deepens. Oskar and his "wife" are compelled to travel by car with the SS man and the teen. Gunfire erupts in a safe house. Headlines blare claims that the teen has been kidnapped. A full-blown hunt is on for Oskar & Co.--"the most wanted people in the Third Reich." They flee by boat on the Weser River, drive and hike through the forests of Hesse, and end in a satisfying climax at a mountain lodge (the same one central to the author's previous novel), complete with spycraft and James Bond-ish moments. Grant (Dispatches from Pluto, 2015, etc.) builds the tension slowly--it seems for a time the story is going nowhere--then ratchets it up with fine pacing. The main characters are well-drawn, but the minor ones are also memorable, from a White Russian princess in an ancien regime Berlin salon to a cabaret mentalist who suffers for misreading his audience. To the shelves groaning with countless Adolf-addled efforts, this is an understated, entertaining addition.
COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from February 15, 2017
Berlin, 1937, and the Nazi regime is in blossom. Arriving in the German capital with his adolescent son in tow is blow-hard American senator Thomas "Bull" Townsend on a mission, with friendly feelings toward Hitler's regime. While this visit unfolds, other characters are playing cat-and-mouse, including those resisting the Nazi regime and those doing their best to lock up everyone who opposes it. Enter young Oskar Langweil at a reception of the anti-Nazi elite, where he's enlisted by Germany's counterintelligence agency for a mission to the States in an attempt to overthrow the regime. The mission fails and Oskar sneaks back into Germany as the supposed husband of Socialist expat Lena. Meantime, Clairborne Townsend, the rebellious son of the American senator, goes missing in the company of Hagen von Ewigholz, his SS bodyguard. There follows a chase in which Oskar and Lena eventually throw in their lot with Clair and his SS guardian as the four implausible companions flee their pursuers. VERDICT Grant (Another Green World) has crafted an absorbing tale of espionage wrapped in enough cloak-und-dagger episodes to make anyone's Kopf spin. Intrigue and menace mixed here with delicious dollops of humor make a great read for those interested in that bygone era. Absolutely wunderbar!--Edward B. Cone, New York
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 15, 2017
It's 1937: Hitler is in power, and the Weimar crowd is still trying to party hard, but it isn't really working any longer. Meanwhile, an Abwehr spy, Oskar Langwell, after bungling a mission in Washington, smuggles himself onto a fellow-traveler-laden tour ship en route to Germany. The hapless Oskar, who may or may not be part of a plot to unseat Hitler, falls in with a curious collection of misfits: the flamboyant son of a Nazi-sympathizing U.S. congressman, a gay S.S. officer in love with the congressman's son, and a naive, Sally Bowleslike German socialist hoping to foment, well, something when she gets back to Germany. Chaos ensues as our merry band of clueless connivers, all with crazily competing agendas, find themselves tramping about the Reinhardswald woods on the run from the Gestapo. Yes, this very odd yet oddly appealing novel is set in Alan Furst's time zone, but it's something entirely different. Think more of the cast from Cabaret on a desperate road trip, falling in and out of love with one another as bullets zing through the trees.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)